Accra, Feb. 18, GNA – Rice Production in Ghana is to get a boost with support from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Technical Assistance Project.

The Project will strengthen competencies of the value chain to effectuate the use of modern technologies, realise higher value creation and comply with market requirements.

Mr Frakhruddin Azizi, UNIDO’s Representative to Ghana, said the 3.6-million-dollar Project would build the capacity of value chain actors, mainly farmers, agro-traders, crop processors and public support institutions by focusing on quality assurance, increased productivity and business competitiveness as well as the supply of equipment.

The Project is dubbed: “Promoting technological upgrade and quality assurance system to achieve higher value addition in the post-harvest processes of rice value chain.”

He said the three-year Project would commence this year and would be focused in the Northern and Ashanti Regions with funding from the Japanese Government with UNIDO implementing jointly with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

He said it was to contribute to the food security challenges in the country and the overall national agenda towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Mr Mockizukihi Hisanobu, Ambassador of Japan to Ghana, said last year, the Government of Japan and UNIDO joined hands to implement ten UNIDO projects across ten countries, including Ghana, to mitigate the severe and long-lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said Japan considered capacity development as central to the socioeconomic development of any country and “we have confidence in the ability of technology to provide substantial benefit in agriculture.”

The Ambassador said the experience Japan had gathered over the years in the areas of capacity development had been very useful in their success story.

“Therefore, when we build the capacity of farmers to improve the quality of a high market value crop like rice, the impact can be transformative and open opportunities for smallholder farmers,” he added.

Mr Hisanobu on capacity development, said just a few years ago, JICA in partnership with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture implemented the “Project for Sustainable Development of Rainfed Lowland Rice Production in Ghana.”

He said the project promoted the concept of human security, which was a key development cooperation objective of Japan’s Official Development Assistance.

Mr Yaw Frimpong Addo, the Deputy Minister in Charge of Crop at the Ministry, said rice was an important strategic crop in the economy of Ghana, which was cultivated as both food and cash crop.

He said rice consumption continued to increase due to population growth, urbanisation and change in consumer habits. 

Between 2008 and 2020, paddy rice production was in the range of 302,000 MT and 987,000 MT (181,000 to 622,000 MT of milled rice) with large annual fluctuations.

He said the total rice consumption in 2020 amounted to about 1,450,000 MT, which was equivalent to per capita consumption of about 45.0kg per annum.

The Minister said the country depended largely on imported rice to make up for the deficit in domestic rice supply, and its rice self-sufficiency ratio declined from 38 per cent in 1999 to 24 per cent in 2006 and increased to about 43 per cent in 2020.

The Minister said it was based on that backdrop that more efforts were needed to make the domestic rice value chain competitive.

Mr Addo said the country was still having some teething challenges in both the rice seed and grain value chains, especially during the post-harvest stage in maintaining quality standards to make domestic rice competitive.

Some of the challenges are inadequate processing infrastructure and modern milling machines, insufficient silos for storing paddy before milling, inadequate quality standard testing for both seed (paddy) and milled rice. 

He said the Project had come at the right time to support the promotion of technological modernisation and upgrade of the rice value chain to achieve higher production output, market value, and quality level.

He said the rice sector had particularly been given top priority through engagement with international, regional and national partners to boost domestic rice production. 

He commended UNIDO for efforts at developing the technical cooperation project and expressed gratitude to JICA for the financial backing. 

GNA

Accra, Feb. 18, GNA – Rice Production in Ghana is to get a boost with support from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Technical Assistance Project.

The Project will strengthen competencies of the value chain to effectuate the use of modern technologies, realise higher value creation and comply with market requirements.

Mr Frakhruddin Azizi, UNIDO’s Representative to Ghana, said the 3.6-million-dollar Project would build the capacity of value chain actors, mainly farmers, agro-traders, crop processors and public support institutions by focusing on quality assurance, increased productivity and business competitiveness as well as the supply of equipment.

The Project is dubbed: “Promoting technological upgrade and quality assurance system to achieve higher value addition in the post-harvest processes of rice value chain.”

He said the three-year Project would commence this year and would be focused in the Northern and Ashanti Regions with funding from the Japanese Government with UNIDO implementing jointly with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

He said it was to contribute to the food security challenges in the country and the overall national agenda towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Mr Mockizukihi Hisanobu, Ambassador of Japan to Ghana, said last year, the Government of Japan and UNIDO joined hands to implement ten UNIDO projects across ten countries, including Ghana, to mitigate the severe and long-lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said Japan considered capacity development as central to the socioeconomic development of any country and “we have confidence in the ability of technology to provide substantial benefit in agriculture.”

The Ambassador said the experience Japan had gathered over the years in the areas of capacity development had been very useful in their success story.

“Therefore, when we build the capacity of farmers to improve the quality of a high market value crop like rice, the impact can be transformative and open opportunities for smallholder farmers,” he added.

Mr Hisanobu on capacity development, said just a few years ago, JICA in partnership with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture implemented the “Project for Sustainable Development of Rainfed Lowland Rice Production in Ghana.”

He said the project promoted the concept of human security, which was a key development cooperation objective of Japan’s Official Development Assistance.

Mr Yaw Frimpong Addo, the Deputy Minister in Charge of Crop at the Ministry, said rice was an important strategic crop in the economy of Ghana, which was cultivated as both food and cash crop.

He said rice consumption continued to increase due to population growth, urbanisation and change in consumer habits. 

Between 2008 and 2020, paddy rice production was in the range of 302,000 MT and 987,000 MT (181,000 to 622,000 MT of milled rice) with large annual fluctuations.

He said the total rice consumption in 2020 amounted to about 1,450,000 MT, which was equivalent to per capita consumption of about 45.0kg per annum.

The Minister said the country depended largely on imported rice to make up for the deficit in domestic rice supply, and its rice self-sufficiency ratio declined from 38 per cent in 1999 to 24 per cent in 2006 and increased to about 43 per cent in 2020.

The Minister said it was based on that backdrop that more efforts were needed to make the domestic rice value chain competitive.

Mr Addo said the country was still having some teething challenges in both the rice seed and grain value chains, especially during the post-harvest stage in maintaining quality standards to make domestic rice competitive.

Some of the challenges are inadequate processing infrastructure and modern milling machines, insufficient silos for storing paddy before milling, inadequate quality standard testing for both seed (paddy) and milled rice. 

He said the Project had come at the right time to support the promotion of technological modernisation and upgrade of the rice value chain to achieve higher production output, market value, and quality level.

He said the rice sector had particularly been given top priority through engagement with international, regional and national partners to boost domestic rice production. 

He commended UNIDO for efforts at developing the technical cooperation project and expressed gratitude to JICA for the financial backing. 

GNA